And so we arrived at the most southern port on the most Southern island of the Cape Verdes. The weather forecast was correct and we arrived on a sunny morning.
The “Boxy Lady docked behind us, loading and discharging boxes.
It has been indicated to us that the port/ dock was being upgraded but it was interesting to see that this meant an extension of the old pier, a complete renewal of the pier surface and the construction of a new container area. And it was all new; the wet paint had not dried yet so to speak. With the new pier, there was enough for two ships and behind us was docked the “Boxy Lady” which I think is a very appropriate name for a container ship. I would love to meet the person who had the sense of humor to come up with that name.
After 7 days at sea, most guests were very eager to get ashore but also the bridge officers were itchy as too many sea days plays havoc with practical training such as lifeboat drills. Also some other trainings and tests we prefer to do in port, needed to be done. The trainee’s had three items on the agenda today. Witness water-mist release onto the main engines, follow the officers during raft and boat drill instruction and observe a simulation with the tender to sail out the oil spill boom.
Water-mist is a sort of shower system that we have above our engines. If an engine would go on fire, we will open the valve and a very dense water mist would descend over the engine. It is a very effective way of stopping an engine fire as the very small mist particles have a very high cooling capability and cool the surrounding area down so much that there is not enough heat to sustain the fire. Beautiful system and more and more ships have it.
A nice view . Praia on the plateau overlooking the harbour, while our lifeboats are exercising.
Boat and raft drill is of course a common occurrence on our ships and the trainee’s had to observe what the regular deck officers were doing and how. Hopefully they will learn something and will do it as well and maybe even better than what they saw today.
Simulating an oil-boom deployment is something a little bit more obscure. All Holland America ships have an extensive oil spill containment and clean up kit onboard. We instruct and we train with everything we have, except with the oil boom.
Slowly pulling the boom towards the ship, while catching the “simulated” oil.
The boom is made of soft and absorbent material and can only be used once. So the accountants would not enjoy seeing us using the real boom for training. But we can substitute a floating mooring rope for the boom and do it that way. As you need some specialized knowledge to do that in a successful way, I gave some training yesterday and this morning we did the real thing.
By the time that was finished it was nearly noon time and then it was time to explore Praia. The chance that we will come back here in the very near future it not so great so I urged all of them to grab the one chance they might have in their sailing career. Not that this meant that I was staying onboard as it might be my only chance as well. Due to the new dock, it was quite a distance to the main town and as it is located on a plateau up the hill as well, it meant getting taxis. Luckily there are plenty of them and they are not expensive, even when they try to hike up the –tourist- price a little bit, they are still a very good deal.
I teamed up with one of the trainee’s whom I bumped into in the corridor and we did the sights.
Visit the anthropological museum in the Capital (all two rooms of it).
Then we drove to the old town Ribeiro de Santiago which was overrun so often by the pirates that most people moved to Praia. When we got there, I understood why: a fertile valley between two cliffs with a good anchorage, a prefect hideaway for any self-respecting Captain Jack Sparrow with his Black Pearl.
Then by 4 pm it was back to the bridge as the trainees have now accumulated enough knowledge to start getting the bridge (with all its instruments) ready for departure. It all went well as the ms Rotterdam sailed without any issues out of the port at 17.30 hrs. Tomorrow we are in Mindelo, still in the Cape Verdes, but at the North side and we are staying overnight there.
The ms Rotterdam docked in Praia as seen from downtown
December 3, 2014 at 4:45 pm
Here is another “batch” comment to several of your entries, Captain (so none will go lost)!
Starting with your travels from Amsterdam to Capetown; I’ve always wondered how HAL’s Officers and crew alike deal with jet lag, considering ‘bemanning’ comes from every corner of the world! Having done some 23 hrs travels myself, as in layover (connecting) times of 8 hrs in Frankfurt, how do you (HAL crew) deal with going on the job the next day?!
The 00.00 N/S & 00.00 W/E on the GPS is some feat indeed. Compliments to the Captain’s skillfulness!
I’m still trying to fathom the job of a navigator, how much is involved with instrument reading, to adjusting instruments, to whatever, all learned only through many years of “touch & drill”? Perhaps I should join the Navy … 🙂
In your 1 December log you mentioned waves of 10′-12′ high with a speed of 15kts the ship had a nice lift up and down. Something I only saw once from the aft deck around the pool. To me it’s a super sight to see the funnel gently lift up and down.
Last, but not least; it’s good to see familiar faces on the photo entry of 30 November. One spiffy looking bunch !
December 9, 2014 at 3:50 am
Rotterdam visited Praia in 2006 on her positioning cruise from Lisbon to Rio when she did Europe in the summer and S. America in the winter. Great trip.